July 6-9

Friday marked the beginning of TWO adventures… We coordinated with Karyn AND Esther to work everything out relatively smoothly. We drove from the Bleau’s in the morning stopping off at Karyn’s work to collect her keys and say hello… oh and drop off two owls for Lauralee and Victoria! From there it was time to drop off the female portion of our little family at Karyn’s apartment in time to terrorize the cat and tidy the rooms. 

With Esther running behind schedule (as per usual) even with a quick stop off at Dollarama for a few necessities (ie. toothpaste for Trinity) we had enough time to get the dishes mostly done and carpet vacuumed before she appeared for a quick snuggle and visit. 

SNUGGLES

 That marked the beginning of the boys’ adventure – Aunty Esther collected them at Kristen and Fydo’s where Ken was finishing up with our sort  through and helping with some furniture movement into their now almost completely finished basement and they were off to the city for THEIR holiday from US!! 

In the meantime the girls and I sat back and enjoyed the quiet that is Karyn’s apartment and waited on Karyn finishing work. Now how to spend the evening? Well with girly things including doing HAIR…

Note the pro action with Echo

And blowing bubbles.

Bubbles

And apparently eating cereal with unicorns!!!!

Snack time with Unicorns

The next day it was time to enjoy our day to the fullest. I had received something rather special in the mail thanks to Karyn… a birthday card from my Dad and StepMom with spending cash. Karyn’s bank was open so we were able to change it over to Canadian and it was  time to head to the mall and get to the serious business of shopping!! But before that a special homemade breakfast by Karyn – raspberry pancakes, fresh bacon from the Farmer’s Market and Pepsi… cuz we rock that way!

Pre breakfast sunshine

Note the sheep inclusion

Breaky

Let’s see… we started at the MACS counter where I purchased a brand new foundation with some extra sponges. 

Dressed to impress

Then there was the Body Shop (of which there are TWO in Minnesota… I checked! One in Mall of America and the other at the airport??) with its clearance items and a lovely 3.00 lip colour. We wandered some more just to see what there was to see and then headed over to Winners where Trinity got a special shirt – Hello Kitty of course – for being such a well behaved girl. 

You can see the shirt here

I waffled over a maxi dress that after checking out Old Navy with no success I returned to purchase along with a new pair of sunglasses (finally, that morning my old ones just sort of popped apart after years of use and abuse!)… 

Shoe break

Don’t forget lunch! A mall lunch of anything we felt like… Trinity had frozen yogurt and I got myself some Umi Sushi Express. Don’t forget our traditional poutine which was Karyn’s meal of choice. 

Lunch at the food court

We were SUPPOSED to have dinner with the guys as Ted and Sean came up to help Ken search through his Magic cards for the ones he plans on selling (seriously we downsized EVERYTHING). BUT they got all jumbled in their meal choices so we gave up on waiting and ordered in another favourite! Indian Flame Indian Food!!!!! SOOOO good!

Supper

After some more time on the balcony enjoying the sunny day the girls went to bed and we settled down for another special treat – Blue Eyes tea and cherries. Remember Blue Eyes from the Library High tea? Well I was able to pick some up from the source for the event and bring it to share with Karyn. And it was worth it! Combine the lovely tea and fresh fruit with HEDGEHOG time and silly movies – Spice Girls AND the Beatles movie… and our day was… AWESOME! 

Tea

Kitty

And hedgehogs oh my

Sunday morning was a little more stressful with a tired and hot baby and a cranky little girl. The weather has held out at warm for so long everyone just feels sticky. So we sent the girls along to Ken that afternoon and took a couple hours of together time which included finishing laundry AND going to DQ for food and ice cream. 

Ted and Trinity’s new sweater

Sean and Kristen

We ended up at Kristen and Fydo’s for some more visiting… Sean and Ted had already left but got to play with the girls some… and then it was time to say good bye, head back to Karyn’s for the stuff we left there and head back to town. WITHOUT the boys! As, until Sunday evening they were at Esther’s and then that evening gone over to see their cousin Jimmie. So not only did we see MORE people, do MORE things but we did it with TWO kids!! CRAZY!!!!!

Just the girls, note Trinity is ASLEEP!

And that was my weekend… WOW! 

Oh and a special thanks to Kristen who snapped this one one night this weekend!!

Time keeps on trundling by. I actually feel like I blink and BAM days have passed. We did manage to run to the Dollarama and get some new workbooks on Monday and Tuesday started using them. I am doing my usual review of the previous year for the twins and Emanuel to see if those basics have stuck. Though really Emanuel is just doing the Kindergarten level, the twins are re-doing grade 1 in brief. It is actually going rather well and a lovely confidence building activity. 

Workbook time

Kids at work

Zander made the mistake of leaving his shoes outside and luckily the dogs did NOT eat them… so in order to earn them back I had him cleaning house. He was AMAZING at scrubbing the bathroom and swept, put things away… wiped everything down. Lesson really seemed to be learned as it was past lunch time when he could finally get outside again! 

Earning back his shoes

Emanuel snuck in some DS time

Ken and myself got to go out for dinner to celebrate my birthday too! Sharon came by to watch the kids so mom and Mike would have the freedom to leave if need be and he and I dressed up and ate out (Irish pub, sorry no pictures we were just so RELIEVED to get to go out! ALONE!). It was a lovely night out and gave us some much needed down time without forcing mom and Mike to be stationary. 

Grandpa time

Now Wednesday… Wednesday was a special day! It was the library’s High Tea… so of course all the girls in the house HAD TO dress up and go out! We each ended up with our own personalized fascinator.

With her fascinator bits

Picking flowers

We did good

Enjoyed a good story.

Storytime

And of course had tea (Blue Eyes)! 

Tea time

With scones

The boys had to come up from the children’s library area and enjoy THOSE snacks of course!

Though only the girls dressed up

Thursday was a visiting day with the Bleau family. Lots of kids, lots of fun and lots of laughter. The best remedy EVER to a stressful existence. 

On the deck

Playing video games

Now how do you start a Monday the right way? Well… walk your mother’s dog with two happy little boys. There was even some treasure found! Zander found a penny and a marble! Very exciting, and on our walk we practiced spelling random words… Zander absolutely LOVED the one on one time and is determined that we need to do it much more often. 

Found treasure

I have to admit that as much as I do not want our own family dog… grandma’s is our dog now lock stock and barrow and we love her. I think she rather loves us as well! I was a mean Mommy on Monday and forced the boys to get all educational… outside… in the front… with… GASP… CHALK! Yup, I gave them a list of names of everyone in our family and Grandma and Grandpa Mike and Gypsy and told them to go create. I think they did a great job!

Our family courtesy of Gavin... I especially love the hair

We did our usual school stuff… and made our way through our day with baby and dog in perfect alignment for entertaining themselves. I do love how well they have bonded together!

Buddies

We had surprise visitors, a friend of mine and mom’s came by slurpee in hand (seriously EVERYONE knows my addiction)… Tammy and 2 of her kids (Veronica and Russel). VISITING TIME! You never realize how much a supportive friend is helpful when you are feeling a little down. We chatted about life, frustrations, silly things… and watched our babies enjoy each other’s company. Russel is MUCH younger than Echo but almost the same size. She kept petting him like she does the dog and following him as he crawled. I love it when she plays with other kids. She is so happy! 

Toys!

Travel buddies

I have a new goal – I am going to take the two patterned rolls of duct tape Tammie got me and make a lunchbox for her daughter. I have some ideas I just need to go to Michaels in the city next weekend (church again) and get some purple to tie it all together (none in town here at Walmart boo). A new challenge is always welcome, I just need to finish up the purses I have for sale on the 9th first… and the headbands… and a few more stacked bows… oops! Oh and I think there are a few featureless owls STILL!

After we saw off our friends it was time to make a family trip to Walmart for food and a few craft supplies… oh and a stop off at Dollarama for more RC Cola… I had had a really rough morning with tears and all first thing so I did take a walk before lunch SOLO to get some perk me up items! So yes, it was a TWO slurpee day… and I emotionally need it. Sometime being a woman SUCKS! And as Ken says… it HAS TO BE at the end of the month when right now that is an instant high stress time…

So we had to make it up with Tuesday… I decided to be one on one with the dog and speed walk my way to happiness… when Mommy is the one out of sorts sometimes SHE needs a time out. So I took one, with Gypsy. I have to say I love that feeling where we both just focused on the walk and what we could find out and about. The rest of the world, for that period of time, did not matter. Just Gypsy, me and whatever we saw as we wandered around the neighbourhood. I came back much more stable and ready to work with the boys on their books. And wow are we creating wonderful adventure books! 

A little crafting too

Oh and of course the cake mix I had picked up the day before (chocolate) made wonderful cupcakes for everyone to have a bit of chocolate therapy!

Note the missing one that Ken stole before I could take a picture

With more time in the backyard enjoying the sunshine and rather nice weather we are really enjoying our opportunities to see fresh air and play without electronics and book work. Sandboxes are a great medium for creative play! As is being in charge of your baby sister on a sunny day! 

Fun in the sun

Though Echo did spend some time playing dollhouse…

Dolly time

And we had to bust out Echo’s toy from Dollarama… a no name brand version of the AquaDoodle. If she and Trinity keep on enjoying this one as much as they have I may even have to invest in the brand version… we had one back when and the boys love it but it wore out and it looks like they have improved it over the years!

Doodle time

Now we could not let another day go by without crossing something off our list! This time it was TWO somethings – the fountain on one side of the lake and the swan which apparently felt like being on the other! Add in a bridge, some green grass (and some trees) and a nice drive and I think everyone had a good  time. 

The girls

With Daddy

The fountain

The swan

Now with TWO items crossed off I think we were ALL ready to head back to the house… Supper, baths and BED… and then, come midnight, Grandma and Grandpa Mike home from their Nebraska vacation! WOW has it really been almost 2 weeks??? So I am no longer dog mommy but I still get to spend lots of time with her – apparently I am loved at this point and she enjoys being at my feet when I take my quiet time in the kitchen to craft. And I really must get crafting more… time is ticking! If you are going to be in the neighbourhood remember – JUNE 9th… ELKS LODGE… 10 am to 4pm!! We will have a table (It’s a Hoot and Friends)…

Finding our stride AND our balance